Chapter 16 - Dealing with some rats

Day of the Willas Tyrell's Wedding

Oldtown

Oldtown. One of the Largest settlements in the lands of Westeros, and potentially the oldest one remaining, giving originally that it had been built by the First Men, before the Andals came to Westeros. It was built around the Hightower, the seat of House Hightower, which had been built during the Age of Hero's. The Hightower was a massive castle standing over 700 feet tall, with the last 50 feet serving the purpose of the lighthouse.

Within Oldtown lay the Citadel. The Citadel was a complex of buildings in Oldtown that served as the central home to the order of the Maesters. At the Citadel, the residing Archmaesters teach and train new students, and convene in the Conclave. The Citadel was funded by taxes from Oldtown and payments from lords for the service of Maesters. Maesters rigorously copy books at the Citadel. The Lord of House Hightower also includes Protector of the Citadel among his titles.

The Clone of Naruto thought it was ironic then, that the Maesters didn't show humility to their patron. Whilst his original was enjoying the festivities tonight and would almost certainly be bringing the former Tyrell Queen into his bed, he had been given the task of dealing with the Maesters. For they were the enemy.

Ignoring the fact that the Maesters by and large had a negative opinion of magic and denounced it entirely, there has not been a scientific advancement made in at least 1000 years. When the place where all the learned men in your country are gathered and nothing new is made, something is going on, something nefarious and conspiratorial. Either that, or your country is just full of inept idiots. Naruto knew it was mostly the former that was true in this case.

Their conspiracy consisted of more than just trying to erase magic from the world. They were trying to create a new order in Westeros, one where they controlled everything from the shadows. Hoarding all the knowledge available in Westeros and preventing new inventions from being made by burying the ideas or killing the ones who came up with it was only the first step. Their next step was inserting members of their order into the Households of the noblemen, close to the lords and manipulating events to suit their desires. Now, it would be unfair to blame the entire order for these crimes, as really, the conspiracy was limited to the Conclave of Archmaester's and their goons. That was still about 80% of the order, but still, not all the Maester's were in on the conspiracy.

Naruto could have handled it in his last life as Brynden when he had discovered the plot initially. But between his hyperfocus on keeping the Targayen bloodline safe, destroying the Blackfyre's, and how those efforts had led to his mismanagement of the Kingdoms, he simply did not have enough goodwill to bring the conspiracy into the light(the smallfolk and lords would not have believed him and he couldn't risk them ignoring the conspiracy), and his powers had been very limited. The most he could do back then was stop their plots and remove as many members in secret as possible. Now, it was different. Now he had all the power in the world, and the situation he found himself in would allow him to place the blame solely at the feet of Cersei's goon, Qyburn. After all, it was well known that he had been kicked out of the order for being too liberal in his ideas and taking his experiments to places even the most fanatical of the order dared not go. It would be a simple matter to put the blame there, labeling it as petty vengeance for not acknowledging his hard work.

Plus, blowing up the Starry Sept would make it look like it was sanctioned by Cersei. Afterall, who but the King and Queen can commission the production and purchase of Wildfire?

And all of this was just the offenses to Westeros in general. Their offenses against his family had been great indeed. Whispering poison in the ears of the Hightowers to usurp Rhaenyra and press Aegon's the 2nd's claim on the throne, poisoning all the Dragons that came after the Dance so they died off, hiding the various magic rituals of the Targaryen's that prevented the nasty side-effects of incest and increased their fertility, allowing them to keep the Dragon Blood strong. The list goes on to more recent memories as well, such as disrupting the ritual by Aegon the 5th to resurrect dragons, poisoning Rhaella to kill most of her children in the womb or after they were born. Rhaella had been strong and unusually fertile for a Targaryen. One such as her does not just lose her child, especially when she was under little to no stress and was extremely careful. Same thing for Elia, although she had been poisoned since she was a child, causing her health to suffer more when she was an adult. It was a miracle she had been able to birth children at all, given the double whammy of her own poor health due to the machinations of the Maesters, and then the poisoning she unknowingly was subjected to, which caused the birth of her children to be unnaturally hard, causing her to be rendered infertile after Aegon. One could only imagine how things would have been different for her had she been of proper health and no outside interference. Most of the recent offenses were Pycelle's fault, but he was in the conspiracy as well. It is fortunate for him that Qyburn had him killed before Cersei's trial, as Naruto would have made his suffering magnanimous.

While the entire order was not part of the conspiracy, there were simply too many of them that were in on it. The whole order would have to be sacrificed for the Greater Good. It would not do to have all the knowledge of Westeros stored in one place, anyway. Once he became king, he would gather all the Maester's that were not in on the Conspiracy and use them to create new centers of learning and jumpstart a revolution. He wasn't going to be alive to rule forever, after all, so he had to plan for the future. The rest of the Maester's scattered throughout Westeros would not live to see another morning. The old ones would die in their sleep, while the younger ones would contract an uncurable illness that they could not hope to heal themselves of. And it would be random too, so it would look like it was a coordinated effort. And any that survived their ordeal tonight would die in the morning too.

First though, he needed to get Sam out of here, as well as Archmaester Marwyn, out of here before he blew half the city to Kingdom come. Sam had been a friend of Jon and it wouldn't do to be killing his vessel's friends. Marwyn as well should be spared, on account of him not hating magic and being against the Conclave of Archmaester's. He would search for them first, then remove a great deal of books from their libraries and then destroy the entire guild in one fell swoop.

The clone moved through the Citadel and searched for Sam. He moved unseen, invisible to the eye, his movements silenced. To the real world, he might as well have been a wraith. As he moved into a section of the Citadel, the section where Marwyn lived. From what Naruto had seen with his vision's, Sam was undergoing a punishment of making new copies of scrolls because he operated on Ser Jorah Mormont's greyscale. Probably appropriate, since Sam was NOT experienced and something could have gone horribly wrong. Samwell was lucky that nothing did go wrong. But still, he was copying scrolls for Archmaester Marwyn right now, who was speaking with Samwell as he did his work.

Marwyn wore a chain of various metals around his thick neck. Otherwise, he looked more like a port brawler than a Maester. Marwyn had a wide neck and a strong jaw. He was short and squat with enormous hands, a thick chest and a hard ale belly. He has white hair coming out of his nose and ears. He is beetle-browed, his nose has been broken more than once, and his teeth were stained red from his habit of chewing sourleaf.

"An Obsidian Candle?" asked Samwell as he put his quill down for a moment.

"Call it dragonglass ... It burns, but it doesn't burn out." Archmaester Marwyn stared at the candle for a moment.

"How does it not burn out? What feeds the flame?" Sam inquired.

"What feeds the fire of a dragon? All Valyrian sorcery had its roots in blood or fire. With one of these candles, Freehold wizards could see across mountains, seas, and deserts. They were able to enter people's dreams and provoke visions in them. They could carry on conversations even if they were half a world away." Marwyn said with some pride. "Not that the Gray Flock is capable of appreciating it. They'd kill your friend if he ever showed up here."

"The Gray Flock?" Sam asked.

"Maesters who hate magic. Which is most of the Maester's." Marwyn said.

"You said earlier they'd kill Jon if he came here. Why kill him? Why would those Maesters do that?" Samwell asked in shock.

"If I tell you, maybe they have to kill you too ... Who do you think killed all the dragons the last time around? Gallant dragonslayers armed with swords? The world the Citadel is building has no place in it for sorcery or prophecy or glass candles, much less for dragons. Ask yourself why Prince Aemon Targaryen was allowed to waste his life upon the Wall when by rights, he should have been raised up to be Grandmaester. His blood was why. He could not be trusted. No more than I can." Marwyn said.

It was at this moment that Naruto's clone chose to reveal himself. "It's lucky for me then, that they won't get a chance to do so." The clone said, his form shimmering with light as Marwyn and Sam turned towards him. Sam was surprised but Marwyn was less so. Perhaps he was expecting him.

"Jon! Or…is it Naruto now?" Sam asked hesitantly. He knew what the rumors said about his friend and how he was going by a different name now, and had discovered his origins, amongst the other things.

"Nice to see you again, Sam. And I go by Naruto these days. It is the name my mother gave me, after all." Naruto said before he turned to Marwyn.

"You have taken a great risk coming here, Dragonking. Like I told Samwell just now, if the other Maesters discover you, you will not get out of here alive. And you cannot afford to be slain here, given what is coming." Marwyn said with worry in his eyes.

"I take it you already know of the Whitewalkers." Posed the Targaryen King.

Archmaester Marwyn shrugged and nodded. "The world will end either in the cold, icy grip of the White Walkers, or Daenerys Targaryen will burn us all to ash. You are the only future the world has where we all get to live."

"Hmm, you know more than you let on." Naruto commented. He might like to pick Marwyn's brain sometime and see what he knows. "Regardless, the real Naruto Targaryen is not actually here. This form you see before is little more than an avatar, sent to carry out his will."

"And what is the Dragon King's will?" Marwyn asked.

"To see the Maesters come to an end for what was done to House Targaryen. Not a single member of the Grey Flock will live past this day." The clone stated.

"That would be difficult. Many of the Grey Flock are stationed in houses all around Westeros. How would you destroy them all at once? And that does not even begin to answer how you will destroy those here at the Citadel?" Marwyn asked, curious how Naruto would accomplish this.

"Well, the idiots were nice enough to keep some jars of Wildfire here at the Citadel. What they have here is young Wildfire, barely 1 year old, but it was a simple matter to supercharge the Wildfire to increase it's potency to 100 times what it currently is. By my calculations, that should destroy the entire Citadel in one ball of fire."

"And destroy dozens of buildings in every direction, killing thousands of civilians. Not to mention destroy thousand's of years of knowledge, and deprive Westeros of many with knowledge in the healing arts." Marwyn pointed out, to some mild horror, which was a farcry from the absolute horror that Sam's expression contained.

"That same order has kept Westeros from advancing for over 1000 years. You've traveled to the East, Archmaester Marwyn. You have seen the advancements that civilizations like the Yi-Ti have made. They are many years ahead of anything we have here, and it's because the Maester's never allowed anything to come to life, because of their selfish desire to maintain control over a stupid population. I would rather plunge Westeros into a short Dark Age then let any of those bastards live. For the Greater Good of Westeros, the Order of Maester's must be destroyed." Naruto said darkly.

"Besides, it won't come to that, as I will be grabbing thousands of manuscripts and such to prevent that from happening. And it's not like the whole Order is being taken out. Just the one's that hate magic. The ones that don't will be spared and we shall bring them all into a new institution, where the various schools of learning will split up into multiple institutions of learning, to not only encourage the advancement of knowledge and science, but also ensure that this little situation never happens again."

"So, you're really set on this, Jo-Naruto," Sam said solemnly.

"Oh, it's going to blow in 2 hours from now, so we should not dally around." Naruto said to their shock.

"Now then," Naruto said as he pulled a map of Oldtown and the surrounding area outside Oldtown's walls. He pointed to an area several miles from the walls. "We shall meet here in the hillside, far from the sight of city. I will pick you two, plus Gilly and her kid up at this location here. The 5 of us will meet with the original Naruto on the way and we shall travel to my armies in the Stormlands so I can get back to this war."

"We won't be able to slip out of the Citadel unseen." Marwyn mentioned, as it would be difficult with all the Maesters between them and the gates of the city.

"Not quite," Naruto clone said at it waved it's hand and produced 4 necklaces. "You will wear these before you leave this room. As long as these are on you, no one aside from me will be able to see, smell, touch, or hear you. You shall be like a wraith, untouched by this world. You will be able to move through the city unopposed. The other 2 necklaces are for Gilly and Little Sam."

The clone walked over to the door and almost opened it, but remembered something and turned to them. "Oh and one more thing. If for some reason you are still inside the city after 2 hours, don't be anywhere near the Starry Sept. That's getting blown up too."

"Why?" Sam asked, this needless carnage was something he wasn't used to seeing from his friend.

"Because the Faith of the Seven is intolerant of other religons. When I become King, church and state will henceforth be separated. Especially since I am of the Old Gods and they're strength is returning. The Weirwoods are growing once more. I will make it abundantly clear the religious intolerance has no place in my kingdom." Naruto said as he opened the door,

"Now, don't doddle around any further. Get going." Seeing as the Archmaester and Sam couldn't risk that he wasn't lying, they put on the necklaces, Sam grabbing the 2 others for Gilly and Little Sam. The world around them seemed to darken and become like shadow and they moved through groups of maesters, unseen and untouched and they passed through their bodies like ghosts.

Conclave

In a dark room deep within the Citadel, the Conclave of Archmaesters was meeting. Each Archmaester carried a mask, ring and rod of a different metal, each symbolizing a different craft. The only one not present was Valyrian Steel, as that belonged to Marywn, who was currently escaping the Citadel with Sam. The Conclave was the governing body of the Citadel and the order of maesters. All meetings of the Conclave, which were composed of archmaesters, were confidential in nature and conducted behind closed doors at the Citadel. The Conclave was responsible for electing the Grand Maester. After reviewing information from maesters throughout the Seven Kingdoms, the Conclave also sent forth white ravens to announce the changing of seasons.

This was also, coincidentally, were all the rot in the order was born from. After all, the Conclave was filled to the brim with maesters that hated magic. Many of the predecessors that wore these masks had been responsible for the atrocities committed against House Targaryen. Some had been around during the time of the Mad King to commit them.

The maester in the Gold mask slammed a gavel down, bring the murmuring to a close. "I call this meeting to order." Once the murmurs silenced, he began to read their agenda. "The first order of business we have to discuss is the destruction of the Starry Sept."

"Reports say it was wildfire." One Maester said, who wore a mask of black iron.

"Which means Queen Mother Cersei was behind it. I'm told that King Tommen threw himself from the balcony when he saw the Sept explode with his queen inside of it. Rumors go that he was quite enamored with her." The Archmaester in the copper mask said.

"Yes, well, we can probably assume Pycelle is no longer alive. After all, she has that dropout Qyburn in her employ and has named him Hand of the Queen." The Archmaester in the iron mask said.

"We cannot let this stand. A puppet sitting on the throne of power that we can't control. I suggest we poison Cersei and install someone we can control on the throne." The ArchMaester wearing brass said.

"All those in favor," The gold masked maester asked, and every maester raised their hands.

"We shall discuss the details further at our next gathering. Onto the next order of business. Daenerys Targaryen. Where is she presently?"

"Reports tell me that she is coming to Westeros. By my calculations, she will be here in a month. And rumors are indeed true. She has 3 fully grown dragons." The black iron Archmaester said.

"This is not good. Our predecessors went through a lot of trouble to get rid of the dragons last time." The copper-masked Archmaester said.

"While Daenerys Targaryen is certainly an issue, she is a woman, one apparently not capable of bearing children according to the rumors. I believe since we are discussing her, we should discuss the bigger threat to our power. Naruto Targaryen." Said the Archmaester wearing a tin mask, causing grumbles to ring throughout the room.

"You're right. Naruto Targaryen is bigger threat to us. He has the North, the Vale, and the Riverlands firmly indebted to him, and with him replacing the Lannisters in the Westerlands, he'll have them as well. He has 4 dragons and apparently has Blackfyre and Dark Sister. He is the symbols, he has the power and charisma to conquer the kingdoms, and now Dorne is in negotiations with him." The iron masked Archmaester said.

"That slut of Dorne doesn't want to be left out of getting revenge on the Lannisters. She'll probably cave to his demands just to get revenge for her family, so we may as well consider Dorne as his as well. Something needs to be done about this." The Archmaester wearing lead said.

"Indeed, we can't let the Targaryens come back into power, not after all we did to get rid of them and their disgusting magic in the first place. I say we have one of ours approach him when he inevitably conquers the 7 Kingdoms and poison him or convince him to fight Daenerys so they can destroy each other. Because let's be honest, that's pretty much a done deal at this point." The copper masked Archmaester.

"Well, that might work, except one small problem." It was then that the Archmaester behind him, the one wearing silver, pulled out Blackfyre and decapitated him in one fell swoop. "None of you are leaving this place alive."

"Traitor!" One shouted.

"No, that's not Archmaester Theobald. That's Naruto Targaryen!" The gold masked Archmaester shouted, and to their surprise, Naruto pulled off his mask, his form shimmering and revealing himself clad in full Valyrian steel armor.

"Evening, scum. I'd say it's a pleasure to meet the scum who's been behind my families many tragedies in person, but that's like saying it's healthy to keep a rat as a pet." Naruto said as he snapped his fingers and chains magically manifested around the Archmaesters, preventing them from moving.

"How dare you come here and taint this sacred place with your filth!" exclaimed Archmaester Gulain while he tried to get out of his own chains that bound him to the chair.

"This place is a shithole, so I wouldn't call it a sacred place. As for coming here, the entire order is a disease infecting Westeros," replied Naruto while Gulain glared at him.

"We did what we did for the good of the Seven Kingdoms. We are learned men. Men with knowledge of the known world," said Archmaester Benedict while spitting at the feet of Naruto.

"Arrogant fools who think they're better than everyone else. Men who murder babies in their mothers womb or after they are born, just so you can control the future of Lords and Kings. People like that are not a benefit to society, only a disease." countered Naruto while glaring at the man.

"We brought down your House and others, Targaryen. We hold the influence to make the Lords of all the Houses do our bidding. We have all the power needed to run the Seven Kingdoms as we see fit," spat The black iron masked Archmaester while Naruto smirked at him.

"And yet, you are in the end, powerless. Your influence is an illusion. Confronted with true power, all you can do now is sit in those chairs and pray I don't end your miserable lives until help comes. Help that will not be coming," said Naruto while most of the Archmaesters could see the door was indeed barricaded to prevent any interruption.

"We may not live to see another day, but our brothers of the clothe will avenge us. We are legion and the plan will continue long after our deaths," said The gold-masked Aarchmaester with Naruto glancing at him as though he were an insect.

"Wrong. See once I'm done conquering this continent, I'm going to take the few maesters that were not part of the Grey Flock and use them to jumpstart a Renaissance. And to make sure the Order never comes back, I will make sure all the dirty secrets done over the long years are exposed. What you did during the time of the Targaryens all the way to the present with the Lannister bitch sitting on my family's throne," said Naruto coldly while glaring at the now pale in the face Archmaester.

"We will be avenged bastard dragon. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow or in the years to come. But one day, the dragons will be cast down again. One day, they will be wiped out with none with your bloodline alive to bring back magic or the filthy beasts your people once commanded," said Archmaester Gulain passionately, impressively, despite the fact he was going to die.

"Your threats are empty. Come the dawn, no one in the Order who follows your beliefs will be alive to carry out such a threat," replied Naruto before he cut through them all and took their heads clean off.

With his task done, Naruto looked at the floor, sensing the Wildfire about to go off, and teleported away just as the room lit up with green flame.

Chapter End

So, initially, I was going to add the Dornish stuff to this chapter but I felt it was better to keep the Dornish chapter separate from dealing with the Maesters.